24 July 2017

NEWS: Scotland gets a floating wind farm


Weirdest boats ever.

What do you do when you can't build a wind farm on land, but the seabed is too deep to set turbines on? Easy, you make 'em float, innit? That is the thinking behind Scotland's newest wind farm, made entirely of huge turbines that float on the surface of the sea.



The Hywind farm, which recently received its first turbine 15 miles off the coast of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, features 175 metre tall towers, each weighing 11,500 tonnes. The bases of the towers, which are fully submerged, are filled with iron ore to keep it upright in the water, while steel cables keep them tethered to the sea floor - which has to be at least 1km deep. Once completed, it is believed the farm will generate enough power for 20,000 homes.


This is great news for renewable energy, as not only do floating turbines open up places in the world in which it was previously impossible to establish a wind farm, but it also means the turbines can be moved to better, more windier locations as climate change effects the planet. 

Although... we can image huge floating turbines like these featuring at the start of a monster movie. "The Hywind farm is down. Something... ate the turbines!"






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